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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Just like Carrie Bradshaw

About an hour ago.

A friend of mine razzed me about never posting photos of myself unless they're really flattering and kind of glamorous. Like when I'm wearing a new skirt and drinking a cocktail at a restaurant in New Orleans on New Year's Eve. You know who you are, "friend." This one's for you.

Onward:

My husband's phone takes better pictures than my camera.

Last night I made Dorie Greenspan's pissaladiere from Around My French Table. It's an onion tart with anchovies and olives, traditionally made in the South of France. I told Owen it was pizza and he ate it, but said he didn't like it as much as normal pizza. I wouldn't expect him to, and was impressed that he ate it at all. I thought the pissaladiere was delicious and very handsome.

Sometime you start cooking from a book that looks very enticing (Mixt Salads, Platter of Figs) and then the recipes keep disappointing and you end up wanting to throw the enticing book into the fireplace.

And then there are books like this one, that look old-fashioned and predictable, but in which every recipe is so well expressed and works so beautifully that you decide you want to cook everything, even the veal marengo. It's like in college, when you realize that it's not the subject that makes a class interesting, it's the professor.

7 comments:

Wait, it wasn't pizza? It was an onion and anchovy tart, and you told Owen it was pizza? Shouldn't we be de-stigmatizing onion-and-anchovy tarts by not trying to pretend they're pizzas?This gives Owen more fodder for his book "Lies My Mother Told Me."

Very nice photo. That's what we all look like while blogging anyway (in my case: insert dog and man in place of boy and cat). I'm not sure about anchovies...I'll have to take your word for it. Does the tart taste fishy? I'm afraid I'd be as picky as Owen. I started a silly little blog and included a link to your Justin Cronin recommendation. If I ever get off the couch and into the kitchen I'll try some of the recipes you've recommended too.

Moro by Sam & Sam Clark. Shelf essential? Yes. An all-time favorite. A brilliant and fascinating book about the cuisines of North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Gourmet Today edited by Ruth Reichl. Shelf Essential? No. Not a bad book, but it can't decide if it's aspiring to be an all-purpose classic or something else entirely. It's neither. Recipes are mostly solid, few outstanding.

Mexico, One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless. Shelf essential? No, but a very useful and reliable Mexican cookbook.

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop. Shelf essential? Yes, especially if you're a Chinese food fanatic and want to delve into its regional cuisines. Though some of the recipes are too weird even for me, the beef with cumin was one of the best things I've ever cooked.

The Seventh Daughter by Cecilia Chiang. Shelf essential? Sure, though if there's only room in your collection for one "basic" Chinese cookbook go for Barbara Tropp's Modern Art of Chinese Cooking.